The amazing effects of cider.
'O great, now I'm late. Pinkie's going to shove me in her party cannon.'
Rainbow Dash is racing through the skys over Ponyville cleaning up some stray clouds that had blown in from the Everfree Forrest. Those clouds were always getting in the way of the weather schedule. Kicking the last cloud to pieces, Rainbow Dash sprints for the library.
'I can't believe I'm late to Pinkie and Fluttershy's goodbye party. I hope there not too mad.'
Landing at the front door she raises a hoof to knock, yelping when the door fly's open and a pink hoof grabs and pulls her in. The door slams shut and Rainbow finds herself surrounded by her friends, all of whom were giving her the best Fluttershy STARE they could manage.
"Ummm, hey girls, sorry about being so late. I had some rogue clouds to deal with....."
Pinkie walks up to Rainbow, still giving her THE STARE. Rainbow backs away with a slight look of fear. She has seen Pinkie at her worse and she didn't want to be close when she went off.Pinkie slowly opens her mouth and reaches behind her. "It's time to PARTY" She pulls her party canon from nowhere and fires balloons and streamers into the air.
Rainbow Dash breaths a sigh of relief as all her friends laugh and start dancin to music that seemed to come from nowhere. She gladly joins them.
After an hour of partying and cider drinking, it's time to say goodbye to Pinkie and Fluttershy at the train station. They were on there way to Manehatten, Pinkie to pick up some new party supplies from a friend and Fluttershy to pick up some rare animal food. (She was watching princess Celestia's Phoenix while she was away on a good will mission to the Griffin Empire.)
"Goodbye girls. Hope you have fun." Twilight waves as the train leaves the station. Rarity and applejack say goodbye after a few minutes and head to their houses. Twilight looks at Rainbow. "Well, guess I'll get going as well. Still have to clean up the library after that party." The smile vanishes from her face as she realizes just how much work that was going to be.
Rainbow chuckles at he look on Twilight's face. "I'm not doing anything for the rest of the day, want me to help?"
Twilight instantly smiles and nods. "Yes, that will make it go so much faster. Plus i can show you the new Daring Do book that i just got. Its written like an.....
"... It's a really nice book." Twilight smirks up at Rainbow, knowing she stopped listening after the first three sentences. She see Rainbow nod in aggrement and decides to get her back. "So do you want to check the book about Unicorn and Pegasi relationships? I think it could really help us along in ours."
"Sure, I would really interres...... wait, WHAT!" 'What dd she just say?' Rainbow looks at Twilight, who was now rolling around on the library floor laughing. She relaxes as she realizes that Twilight, the egghead, just pulled a fast one on her.
"O... good one Twilight. I never expected that from you." 'OK, now to recover from my heart attack. I thought she was actually announcing her love for me or something.' Rainbow Smiles at the thought of Twilight having a crush on her. "Then again, I wouldn't blame her for falling for somepony as awesome as me.'
"So, where should we start. We need to clean the dishes and scrub the cake off the floor, the walls, the ceiling.... wait, the ceiling?" Twilight's eye start's twitching.
Noticing her pause, Rainbow looks over and can almost see the smoke raising from Twilight's struggling brain. "WO, remember our rule about Pinkie. 'Don't question her methods'." Luckily Twilight gives up before suffering brain damage. She shakes her head and magics the cake off the walls and ceiling.
"Ok, now that that's done I'll take care of the dishes. Why don't you sweep."
Rainbow grabs the broom as Twilight levitates the dishes into the kitchen. Twenty minutes later the library is back to it's pre-party mess and all that's left is the barrel of cider.
Twilight walks over and looks into the barrel. "Wow, there's quite a bit of cider left. What am i going to do with it, I don't have a place to store it."
Rainbow grins. "I'm still here. There's not that much left, I'm sure we could finish it off." Rainbow grins evily inside. 'I've never seen Twilight drunk before. This is going to be fun.' Dash runs into the kitchen for two cups, returning in ten seconds flat. (sorry, couldn't resist.)
Twilight looks skeptical. "I don't know. I've never really drunk more then a few glasses at a time before."
Rainbow chuckles. 'Thats what I thought' "Don't worry Twilight, there's not much left. I bet we won't even get drunk." 'I highly doubt that, especially with the amount of alcohol Applejack puts in her cider.'
Twilight looks from the cider to Rainbow, eventualy giving in. "All right. I guess there's no harm in having a few more drinks."
Half an hour and ten drinks later, Twilight was trashed. Rainbow was fairing better due to her high metabolism and experience with alcohol. 'Wow, forget lightweight. She's a feather weight.' Twilight was rambeling about her studies of friendship. She had gone through all her other friends and was just finishing up on A.J.
"She's a really strong pony. I would.... really hate to make.... her mad. And that leaves you." She points at the wall next to Rainbow. "My studies of our..... friendship have... been extrame... etrame... really difficult. But after a few mouths of thinking...... I...I....... what was i saying?"
Rainbow chuckles. "You were telling me about your studies of our friendship."
Twilight facehoof's, jabbing herself in the eye. "Owww, o yea.... friendship study. After a few month's..... of thinking........ I've come to the.. coclus.... the realesa........... I think I like you."
Rainbow smiles "I like you too Twilight. Even if you are an egghead, seeing you drunk totally makes up for it." Rainbow blinks as a violet hoof connects gently with her cheek. 'Did she just try to slap me? That was a sad excuse for a slap.'
Twilight sits on her haunches, looking like she's about to cry. "No you st..stupid... pony.......... I like you."
Realization dawns on Rainbow's face. She scoops Twilight up and carry's her to her bed upstairs. Laying her on it she covers her with the blanket. "You don't mean that Twilight, that's just the alcohol talking. Now you get some sleep and I'll check on you later."
Twilight frowns as her eyes start to close. "no... it isn't.... the.....alcohol........." Her eyes close and her breathing slows.
Rainbow turns to leave but stops when she hears a sound. Turning back, she holds an ear up to Twilight's mouth.
"Rainbow..."
Author's Note
If you wonder why not very many characters speak it's because juggling all those voices in my head just gives me a headache.
The amazing effects of cider.
Three days later Rainbow is relaxing on a small cloud hovering over Sweet Apple Acres. The last three days have been a jumble of confused thoughts. 'She said she likes me. Likes me likes me. Was she really speaking her feelings or was she too drunk to know what she was saying? Do I even like her that way? CAN I even like her that way? If I do, what will the others think. They will probibaly laugh and make fun of me. O Celestia, it will be like flight school all over again. Why did I have to be born with a rainbow mane?'
Rainbow had been avoiding the library and it's lavender colored caretaker ever since the after party. She couldn't face The unicorn just yet, she was still so confused. Momentarily she wonders how shes doing before remembering how drunk she was. 'She probably doesn't even remember what she said. But thats not good either. I've been avoiding her and if she doesn't remember she's probibaly wondering what happened that night. She's probibaly thinking up all kinds of crazy things. UUUUGH, I'm going to have to talk to her soon, arn't I.' Shes answered by a voice from below.
"Rainbow Dash, have y'all seen Twilight. ah'm getting worried, ah haven't seen her since the train station three days ago." Applejack looks down at the ground. "Ah'm starting ta think she's depressed bout Fluttershy an Pinkie leaving."
Rainbow looks over the edge of the cloud. "No A.J. that's not why.... You haven't seen her for three days?" Applejack shakes her head.
"Why? What happened?" Applejack gets a worried look on her face.
Rainbow Dash jumps up and takes flight yelling back at A.J. "I'll go check on her, I'll explain later." When she arrives at the library she sees the closed sign hung up in the window. She lands and pounds on the door. "Twilight, where are you. You have everyone worried. Twilight?" There's no answer. Thinking she might be out walking around Rainbow takes flight but stops by Twilight's bedroom window. What she see's drains all the color from her face.
She could see Twilight's back hooves hanging off the side of the bed. But that's not what scared Rainbow. Underneath her hind leg was a large red stain that looks like it has been there for about three days. Dash kicks the window open screaming. "TWILIGHT." She rushs over to the bed to see Twilight laying peacefully on her blanket. Confused, Rainbow sniffs the stain, realizing it was cranberry juice. She spots some broken glass shoved in the corner and realized that Twilight had probably dropped the glass of juice. 'But why would she drop the glass? And why wouldn't she clean up afterwords?' Rainbow jumps when she hears Twilight sobbing.
Rainbow walks over to Twilight and rubs her back. "Whats wrong Twilight? You can tell me."
Twilight shakes her head. "No, I just want to be alone. Please go away."
Thinking she knows what this is about, Rainbow walks downstairs and unlocks the front door before walking back to Twilight. "Ok, I'll go and leave you alone. But I'm going to check on you later so don't go anywhere." She jumps out the busted window before Twilight has a chance to respond. She heads towards Sweet Apple Acres and spots Applejack on the path. She lands next to Applejack, startling her.
Applejack jumps a little when Rainbow lands, but she rushes over as soon as she sees a tear in Rainbow's eye. "Rainbow, whats wrong? Is Twilight ok?"
Rainbow shakes her head. "No Applejack, she's not ok. I hurt her deeply and now she hates me. I.... I need to be alone right now. I left the front door of the Library unlocked. I need you to go talk to her for me, if your not busy."
Applejack throws a hug around Rainbow "Ah'm never to busy to help out mah friends."
"Thanks Applejack. Your a good friend." Rainbow leaps into the air and heads for her home.
Two hours later, Rainbow is woken from her nap by somepony yelling her name. Looking out her window she see's Applejack screaming at the top of her lungs, although she can't make out what she was saying. She leaps out the window and lands next to AJ, shoving a hoof in her mouth when she didn't stop yelling. "Easy AJ, I'm right here."
Applejack smack's her. "How could you Rainbow. You got Twilight drunk?! Than when she confessed her feelings to you. you IGNORED HER for THREE DAYS!!!!!!! WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU."
Rainbow shrinks back from the slap and yelling. "I don't know what to do. I'm so confused, At first I wasn't sure is those were her real feelings or just the alcohol. Then I started wondering if she actually liked me that way. Then I tried to figure out if I liker HER that way. I JUST DON'T KNOW." Rainbow flinches when Applejack reaches for her again, but relaxes when she realizes she's being huged.
"Ah didn't know what you were going through. Ah thought you were just being an insensitive jerk. Ah'm sorry Rainbow Dash." Applejack squeezs her before looking into her eyes. "So, have you discovered how you feel about Twilight yet?"
Rainbow shakes her head. "No, but I'm not against the idea of us being together. I just don't know my true feelings towards her."
Applejack laughs. "Is that all sugercube? That's what dating is all about, getting to know the other pony and your feelings for each other."
Rainbow hugs Aj once more. "Thanks. For everything. Now if you'll excuse me, I have a mare to attend to."
